


Love is...

by JaybirdSpectacular



Series: FE3H Demi Fics [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Asexual Character, Demisexual Character, F/F, FE3H AceAro Week, Fluff, Love, Polyamory, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), soft, they are just berry in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29442069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaybirdSpectacular/pseuds/JaybirdSpectacular
Summary: A simple day, and what love means to Bernie, Hapi, and Petra.Written for FE3H AceAro Week Day 7, Love
Relationships: Bernadetta von Varley/Petra Macneary/Hapi
Series: FE3H Demi Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154354
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: FE3H - Ace/Aro Week





	Love is...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again to my beta for checking this for me!

Bernie wants to do something nice for Petra and Hapi. The war is draining them, sapping them of energy and nearly every nice moment they have together, leaving them empty and lifeless. She just wants to lift them up, support them despite everything that’s going on, help them forget for just a moment the chaos around them.

She doesn’t know why Petra and Hapi fell in love with _her_ of all the people in the army, in Garreg Mach, in the _world_ , but she is glad they did. They have something special, and Petra and Hapi care for Bernie as she is, not as what she could be, unlike so many others she has cut from her life.

So, that is why Bernie is going to make them a pie. A pie is definitely the best way to express her love!

She knows she’s good at baking, that’s part of what she was trained to do for all those years. She might be terrible at so many things, but she can make a wonderful pie. And even more than all the ones she made as a child, this one will be decadent, perfectly delightful, crisp and sweet and succulent because it will be made with _love_ and not fear.

Deep down, she doesn’t think she can make Petra and Hapi feel loved and appreciated unless she just does something for them.

She knows, logically, that isn’t true. They’ve both been hammering it into her silly Bernie head that Bernie is Bernie and that is what counts. Still, Bernie knows that she can do more.

She wants to do more.

But there are no Albinean berries in the kitchen, no berries in the marketplace, and she is set on making this pie. The war has raged on for so long, supplies are limited. Even if some were available, it might be selfish of her to take them.

She turns her eyes to the forests and gulps down her hesitations. It’s okay, Bernie. You can do this, Bernie, for them! Keep it a secret and they’ll never know and never get worried. You’ll be fine, Bernie!

She hopes that she isn’t going to end up a Bernie-pie for some monsters.

\----

To Bernie, love is making others happy. Love is doing all she can to show her partners that, even if she is just silly ol’ Bernie, she really does care for them, even when she messes up. Love is baking a pie. Love is being there, as she is, and as they are, and it being okay.

Love is not, to her, something physical. It never has been, it never will be. Love to her is the feelings she has. Love is when she cuddles into arms waiting for her, to protect her, keep her safe. Love is intimacy, and there are far more kinds of intimacy than physical affection. Love is feeling that intimacy _with_ them, not from them or for them.

Love is gentle and safe.

_______________________

Hapi misses her partners and has the sudden urge to be around them. Maybe she’ll annoy them or bring them down with her attitude. No, not true. They like her as she is. It’s rare for her to indulge in her feelings, but today, she thinks that’ll she’ll let herself enjoy life, for once.

She knows Petra is busy today, but she isn’t sure about Bernie until she asks around the kitchens, discovers she was looking for berries earlier.

Hapi finds Bernie in the forest, close to Garreg Mach but still too far for Hapi’s comfort, picking the berries that are the most likely to make her and everyone who eats her delicious baking seriously ill. She can smell their deceitful cloying sweetness from here, which is probably why Bernie chose these to take. They’re the little red ones that come in clusters. They look like they will pop delightfully in one’s mouth when bitten, but really they cause horrible, horrible side-effects, nothing she wants to think about happening to her Bernie-Bear.

(She remembers that one time she fed some to that guy in Abyss who wouldn’t leave Constance alone. Heh.)

Bernie is humming and swaying in place, totally engaged in her task, not paying attention to her surroundings at all. Well, it’s not totally worrying. Bernie-Bear can take care of herself, surely.

Still, it is a great opportunity for a good tease. 

Hapi sneaks up behind B.B., leans over her shoulders to whisper directly in her ear, “Bernie-bear, do you know what kind of berries you’re picking there?”

Predictably, Bernie yelps and drops her basket, scattering her collection on the ground. Hapi feels only a little bad, as that was going to happen anyway. But Bernie looks so dejectedly at the ground, then at Hapi, that Hapi must reign in the sigh.

“Sorry, Bernie-Bear. But seriously— those berries would make you sicker than that one time we tried Flayn’s quiche.” She absently hopes the birds don’t eat too many and get sick, too. Oh well.

Bernie pouts at her. Oh, there’s the guilt. Hold back the sigh, swallow the guilt, make it better.

“B.B., let me help you find the good ones. What are you trying to do, anyway? Please tell me you’re going to make a pie.”

Bernie blushes, twiddles her fingers together, “Yeah, I am…” She gasps. “Oh, drat! I wanted it to be a surprise!” She hides her face in her hands, mumbling to herself, too low and muffled for Hapi to make out, but she can assume.

“Well, it certainly would’ve been a surprise after we ate it….” Hapi mumbles. Bernie whimpers and crumples further. “Hey, hey! We’re going to make it all better!” A soft, muffled cry meets her, and she smiles fondly. “B.B., can I touch you?”

Bernie brings herself to Hapi, tucking herself under Hapi’s chin, wrapping her arms around her. Hapi runs a hand along Bernie’s short hair.

Hapi is used to concealing her feelings, to holding back, to not letting her true self show. But when she’s with Bernie and Petra, she can’t help but to relax, to let down her guard. She knows they’ll accept her as she is.

And happily, she sighs.

They both freeze, waiting.

There is a roar in the distance.

\----

To Hapi, love is forgiveness. Love is accepting someone for the circumstances that they cannot change. Love is fighting off the monsters, together, both metaphorical and the literal ones she always calls to her. That even when she messes up, she won’t be left alone, thrown away, will be caught from her fall. Love is not worrying about holding in her happiness, her joy, that even when she doesn’t express herself, her partners hear her, and when she does, they respond to her in kind. Love is carrying each other, love is holding each other up.

Love is the bond that draws her closer and closer to them, to that inexplicable link that ties her. Love is wanting to follow it, explore all the branching paths it takes and finding the ones that best suit her and their relationship. The ways that she can feel closer and closer to them.

Love is freedom and exploration.

_______________________

Petra is in the right place at the right time, scouring the forest for her own supplies when she hears the roar, the twin screams.

She runs, her feet dancing along the roots like the trees had grown knowing that someday, Petra would be here and would need to fly to reach those familiar voices.

She finds Hapi and Bernie squaring off against a giant wolf, and she smiles. This is no problem.

In a flash, she is there, slashing with her sword in all the monster’s weakest places, and soon, it has fallen. Easily, very easily. She can take supplies from this—

Hapi has covered her mouth with her hands. Whether she is trying to stifle a sob, a scream, or a sigh, Petra does not know. She only knows that she must be there for her, to offer comfort. When they falter, she will not let them fall. She moves them away from the beast, where the forest light is soft and the wind quiet.

Bernie is shaking with sobs, her bow already fallen to the ground. Oh, this will not end well.

“I’m sorry!” they both blurt out at once. They look to each other, Hapi with a wildly incredulous expression, and Bernie with guilty tears in her eyes.

“Why are you apologizing!” Bernie exclaims, “You did nothing wrong!”

“Nothing wrong— B.B., my sigh brought it here!”

“If I hadn’t made you sad, this wouldn’t have happened—”

“It was a happy sigh!”

“Then it’s my fault for being so ridiculous that you laugh at me!”

Okay, it is time for an intervention from Petra. “You are both unharmed, yes?” she asks first and foremost, their safety the most important thing to check right now. They both nod.

Petra goes to them, tilts her head to Bernie, gets a small nod from her, and pulls them both in closely. Hapi receives a soft kiss to the lips, a hum of approval when she responds in turn. Petra keeps it short and chaste so that she can nudge Bernie’s cheek with her forehead, feeling her close, safe, and _here._ Petra didn’t fail them. They’re okay.

Petra worries that she isn’t enough, that one day, she won’t be able to keep them safe. That she won’t be able to be with them, to see them anymore. That she or they will be taken away suddenly, and there will be nothing she can do about it.

But she needs to trust them, and herself, that none of them will let that happen.

“What are you two even doing out here?” she asks. It’s unusual for Hapi to leave Abyss and Bernie to leave her room when they’re not together.

(Though, the both of them have been making efforts to get out, see more of the monastery, talk with more people. Petra encourages them gently, unhurriedly.)

(She doesn’t want them to be overwhelmed when she asks them to come to Brigid with her, after all.)

“I was looking for B.B,” says Hapi. “I was hoping to listen to some of her stories.”

“I wanted to pick berries and make a pie,” mutters Bernie, “but I messed that up. I would’ve poisoned us all!” She whimpers again, and both Petra and Hapi have their hands on her head, running along her back, light touches to calm her.

“Yeah,” Hapi says, “but then we could’ve all been sick and had an excuse to lay around together all day. That isn’t so bad.”

Bernie sniffles. “You think?”

Petra grimaces, “We can enjoy the company of each other in better ways, I think. I found a patch of delicious looking berries earlier, maybe it would be well if we use those.”

“I got it, Princess,” says Hapi, “I know berries like the back of my hand.”

“Then let us pick them together,” says Petra.

\----

To Petra, love is loyalty. Love is providing protection, keeping her loves safe and close to her. Love is finding the strength to keep them well, keep them away from the things that have hurt them in the past. Love is watching over them. Love is forging a new path forward, together.

Love is anything they want and need. Love is listening to each other, balancing each other. Love is respecting each other’s boundaries and needs and wants, compromising when compromises can be made and making space when they cannot. Love is respect. Love is physical as well as emotional. But, finding the balance that brings them the closest together is what love is centered on.

Love is trust and understanding.

___________________________

The pie, is of course, delicious, and it only takes five minutes of reassurance to convince Bernie that it is great. She is doing so much better, and Petra is so proud of her.

Petra catches Hapi staring wistfully out the window. Night has fallen, and the stars are out. It’s obvious what she wants, but will she ask? If they leave each other tonight, Petra thinks she may be burdened with worry for them.

Hapi doesn’t need to ask. “I think I’m still too worked up to sleep after all that,” says Bernie. “Wanna go look at the stars before bed?”

Hapi hums. “What if I sigh and bring another monster?”

Petra takes her hand, kisses it. “I’ll keep us safe.”

They believe her and trust her. She will not let them down.

\----

Hapi loves telling her loves about the stars. She sometimes worries that she talks too much about it, but it’s something she loves, and they’ll listen to her. She knows she deserves to feel. To feel happiness, to feel sadness, to feel love. To enjoy things. And she’ll indulge in these feelings with these two by her side.

\----

Bernie hasn’t worried in so many moons that she isn’t enough. She knows that she’s enough. Hapi and Petra have helped her understand so that now she can believe in herself on her own, without their help.

But, sometimes, it is still nice to hear it from them. It’s nice to show how much she appreciates them and know how much they love her in return.

\----

Love is what they have.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I'd love to hear from you. I respond to every comment!
> 
> [Find me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/JaybirdSpec)


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